Turning a passion into retirement security.

[B&B Happy goats]

Then do what you can afford to do...just like the rest of us

 

[greybeard]

And as far as crop land goes we can always rent or lease a little bit more land if needed

Again, and as in your previous 2 posts, you didn't say how you were going to finance. Yes, no matter what, you would have a house/property payment..at least in the beginning years and that payment has to come off the top each and every month.

Using the farmstead example you provided of the property on 'County Road G', the estimated mortgage is right @ $800/month. $9,600/year plus property taxes at the end of the year, which in 2018 was another $3,600. $13,200 is what would have to be available from farm income, Just to keep a roof over your head, but that isn't nearly enough if you are going to make a go at successful farming. That doesn't include
1. Fuel.
2. Fertilize.
3. fence repair/maintenance.
4. Building/structure upkeep.
5. Animal feed..it isn't free...you would have to either buy it or grow it. Either way, you have to pay for it, either thru buying the seed, doing the work, or buying it finished goods from a co-op.
6. Equipment upkeep/repair. (I was a diesel mechanic for much of my working life...even doing my own work, parts a fluids are expensive.
7. Fence work. (I have 25 gates on my place, at about $80 a pop.) If you buy a place all ready to go, great, otherwise, get ready to spend a bundle of cash just to keep your animals in and animals OUT of any crops you want to grow..
8. Health care...I'm sure you already know how much that costs out of household budgets.
.
.
.
These, (and a whole lot more) all have to come from a farmer/rancher's income.

I'm very much in favor of having a plan...a vision, and sticking with it, but part of that plan must include a way to pay for it and, (hopefully) a way to make it pay for itself with profit at the end.
It does look like the 9.2 ac place you showed is ready to go, but 9 acres isn't much if you intend to fully support your family with it.

For instance...It would probably carry only 4 cow/calf pairs in good years. Your gross revenue from selling four 700lb calves right now would be about $3,780. It would pay the property taxes IF, you had zero costs in raising the calves to weaning weight.

 

[Baymule]

Many people have created their own business with a decent income. There is a guy in the next town who runs a vegetable stand in the summer. He farms 20 acres of his own, plus will buy certain items for resale. I haven't gotten too nosey, I think he is disabled, so he has a income, small though it may be. He is open all summer, then he said he does fall clean up yardwork, or whatever he can.

There are people who make jams and jellies and sell online. Texas has a cottage law, I checked and Wisconsin has one too. You could bake breads, make pickles, jelly and sell from the farm or farmer's market. You could make a tidy income from it.

https://www.facebook.com/wisconsincottagefood/

https://www.wisconsincottagefood.co...YlP6YE1GG9uNL9zEyAcSbg7PI4BS_Uu3gAmPMaq89S0EQ

You mentioned making craft items, that would compliment your home baked goods and give you more to sell.

Maybe your niche isn't raising meat or vegetables for sale, but baked goods, jellies and things covered by the cottage law.

@Devonviolet and her husband sell at their local farmer's market, she sells gluten free baked goods. Her peppermint patty brownies are to DIE for! I take tiny bites to make the pleasure sensory of deliciousness last longer.

You may have to go to a larger town to sell your wares, but then again, the competition could be fierce. Look around and see what you find.

 

[Baymule]

If you do the cottage law sales, you don't have to wait to buy a farm, you could do that now.

 

[Carla D]

Again, and as in your previous 2 posts, you didn't say how you were going to finance. Yes, no matter what, you would have a house/property payment..at least in the beginning years and that payment has to come off the top each and every month.

Using the farmstead example you provided of the property on 'County Road G', the estimated mortgage is right @ $800/month. $9,600/year plus property taxes at the end of the year, which in 2018 was another $3,600. $13,200 is what would have to be available from farm income, Just to keep a roof over your head, but that isn't nearly enough if you are going to make a go at successful farming. That doesn't include
1. Fuel.
2. Fertilize.
3. fence repair/maintenance.
4. Building/structure upkeep.
5. Animal feed..it isn't free...you would have to either buy it or grow it. Either way, you have to pay for it, either thru buying the seed, doing the work, or buying it finished goods from a co-op.
6. Equipment upkeep/repair. (I was a diesel mechanic for much of my working life...even doing my own work, parts a fluids are expensive.
7. Fence work. (I have 25 gates on my place, at about $80 a pop.) If you buy a place all ready to go, great, otherwise, get ready to spend a bundle of cash just to keep your animals in and animals OUT of any crops you want to grow..
8. Health care...I'm sure you already know how much that costs out of household budgets.
.
.
.
These, (and a whole lot more) all have to come from a farmer/rancher's income.

I'm very much in favor of having a plan...a vision, and sticking with it, but part of that plan must include a way to pay for it and, (hopefully) a way to make it pay for itself with profit at the end.
It does look like the 9.2 ac place you showed is ready to go, but 9 acres isn't much if you intend to fully support your family with it.

For instance...It would probably carry only 4 cow/calf pairs in good years. Your gross revenue from selling four 700lb calves right now would be about $3,780. It would pay the property taxes IF, you had zero costs in raising the calves to weaning weight.

This happens to be the exact property we are going to talk to the about tomorrow.

I may not have mentioned this but my husband plans on retiring from the creamery he currently is working at. He’s been there 4-5 years, so we should have many years of reliable income provide the creamery is able to stay running and operating at the capacity it is currently. I’m not however confident in that staying at its current capacity for that length of time. I know in 2017 they ran out of an essential, possibly whey or a milk source, and had to buy it in order to keep production going. I’m thinking it’s safe to bet that that wasn’t a one time deal. If that’s the case and the creamery needs to buy in order to keep production up, this will dramatically change. I don’t know the first thing about businesses, and the power of unions. So much of this is speculation on my part. They just renewed their union contract for five years(?). I’m thinking there should be some job and income security for at least the remainder of that contract. I don’t know what could possibly happen after that. But, I’m going to assume there may be a time when we we are going to make lifestyle changes because of what could happen down the road with his job.

I have to be candid here. I have never thought about how we would manage to keep food on the table, roof over our head, and one mode of transportation should something happen before now. I’m not even sure what provoked me into thinking about it now. Finances, money, and planning for the future have never been strong points in my life much less thinking about them. I’ve typically not planned for possible events and have only reacted to things sent my direction in a reactive manner. Not very smart on my part.

We do have other sources of income at present, military disability, my disability. We also have a 401k, military pension, retirement pension from Jim’s work. That’s not taking into consideration a small amount of SS if that even exists 20-30 years from now. I’m hoping like heck that we would be able to live off this very modestly if we make proper downsizing of lifestyle decisions. I would be perfectly fine living in a 300-400 sqft house, off grid or with minimal utilities, owning one older but running vehicle. Life gets too complicated at times. Our cabin had been off grid for 2.5 years and we still went up there for periods of time greater than two weeks. It’s still pretty much off grid. We have no running water, bathroom facilities, heat or a/c. We have very minimal electricity up there as we have found way too many dangerous conditions of altered plumbing and electrical that we will not rely on what is there until it is properly REPLACED. I had even tried talking DH into building or buying a tiny home of our own and live off grid. I’m pretty sure my husband and I could live a modified pioneer lifestyle. Neither one of us have any interest in living anything but a as simple and modest of a live as humanly/feasibly possible.

I do have a bit more to say, but I don’t want to write a book right now.

 

[Carla D]

Many people have created their own business with a decent income. There is a guy in the next town who runs a vegetable stand in the summer. He farms 20 acres of his own, plus will buy certain items for resale. I haven't gotten too nosey, I think he is disabled, so he has a income, small though it may be. He is open all summer, then he said he does fall clean up yardwork, or whatever he can.

There are people who make jams and jellies and sell online. Texas has a cottage law, I checked and Wisconsin has one too. You could bake breads, make pickles, jelly and sell from the farm or farmer's market. You could make a tidy income from it.

https://www.facebook.com/wisconsincottagefood/

https://www.wisconsincottagefood.co...YlP6YE1GG9uNL9zEyAcSbg7PI4BS_Uu3gAmPMaq89S0EQ

You mentioned making craft items, that would compliment your home baked goods and give you more to sell.

Maybe your niche isn't raising meat or vegetables for sale, but baked goods, jellies and things covered by the cottage law.

@Devonviolet and her husband sell at their local farmer's market, she sells gluten free baked goods. Her peppermint patty brownies are to DIE for! I take tiny bites to make the pleasure sensory of deliciousness last longer.

You may have to go to a larger town to sell your wares, but then again, the competition could be fierce. Look around and see what you find.

Looking into laws, regulations, permits, other legal things for the sale of home grown, produced, foods, meats, edibles, and crafts for Pierce Co, Wi and Wisconsin in general was on tonight’s to do list. I’ve never heard of the cottage law. I was wondering where to start my looking. Because, if it really tough to be able to sell animals, meats, milk, dairy, eggs from a small farm/home base setting it would not be worth getting any more goats, for example, than I’d need to produce for our own family’s needs. If it isn’t too tough to produce, process, and sell certain interested items in doing then I’ll know if we can grow our farm to a size bigger than what only our household can use. More things to look into. Thank you.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Carla, pigs are the best bet for the money, to raise and sell...you get more pound of gain for pound of grain,with pigs... you are already doing the pigs..consider pushing that to the max right now and save your share of proceeds after costs deducted. Sit and figure what you are spending right now for pet goats and could you make more money in that space with less goats...try this now and see how far you can afford to push your boundaries. ...and costs.....may just work for now right where you are at the farm ?....and give you some needed funds to go bigger as your grow....

 

[Carla D]

Carla, pigs are the best bet for the money, to raise and sell...you get more pound of gain for pound of grain,with pigs... you are already doing the pigs..consider pushing that to the max right now and save your share of proceeds after costs deducted. Sit and figure what you are spending right now for pet goats and could you make more money in that space with less goats...try this now and see how far you can afford to push your boundaries. ...and costs.....may just work for now right where you are at the farm ?....and give you some needed funds to go bigger as your grow....

That is a really great idea. There is a possibility that our primary animal to raise being pigs. We really love them. And we have already hit the break even point in what we are raising. The next hope is to make a little money off of them.

I’ve been thinking about the goats. I’ve had many ideas and suggestions passed my way these last few days. I do definitely want to produce goats milk for our own household purposes. It may be a huge PITA to raise, breed, sell goats and goat products. It could come down to buying one or two Nubian doelings, raise them, rent a buck. And have a little meat and a little milk for the use of our household solely. I think I’m ok with that as well. We really just want to stay busy, creative, happy, and supplement our own household. Anything above and beyond that would be an added bonus, provided it didn’t cause us huge numbers of headaches or insurmountable hoops to jump through. I do have big ideas and plans. But nothing ever gets done without ideas and plans first. My plan happens to have a wide range of options to explore from and pick and choose what works for us at any given moment or whim.

 

[Carla D]

Many people have created their own business with a decent income. There is a guy in the next town who runs a vegetable stand in the summer. He farms 20 acres of his own, plus will buy certain items for resale. I haven't gotten too nosey, I think he is disabled, so he has a income, small though it may be. He is open all summer, then he said he does fall clean up yardwork, or whatever he can.

There are people who make jams and jellies and sell online. Texas has a cottage law, I checked and Wisconsin has one too. You could bake breads, make pickles, jelly and sell from the farm or farmer's market. You could make a tidy income from it.

https://www.facebook.com/wisconsincottagefood/

https://www.wisconsincottagefood.co...YlP6YE1GG9uNL9zEyAcSbg7PI4BS_Uu3gAmPMaq89S0EQ

You mentioned making craft items, that would compliment your home baked goods and give you more to sell.

Maybe your niche isn't raising meat or vegetables for sale, but baked goods, jellies and things covered by the cottage law.

@Devonviolet and her husband sell at their local farmer's market, she sells gluten free baked goods. Her peppermint patty brownies are to DIE for! I take tiny bites to make the pleasure sensory of deliciousness last longer.

You may have to go to a larger town to sell your wares, but then again, the competition could be fierce. Look around and see what you find.

Great websites. Thank you for helping me find a starting in my research.

 

[greybeard]

More than half of U.S. farm households lost money farming in recent years, according to the USDA, which estimated that median farm income for U.S. farm households was negative $1,548 in 2018. Farm incomes have slid despite record productivity on American farms, because oversupply drives down commodity prices.